Live. Laugh. Love. Pizza. Always pizza.

Stay Lit.

They say the best cure for insecurity is hanging out with middle schoolers.

Well, actually they don’t say that.

And maybe last year I would have joined the crowd and said if you have self-esteem issues do not hang out with 13-year-olds for a living.

This year, I say do it. Your confidence will be held up to every test, and some days it will fail. Miserably.

Like when the 8th grader squints their eyes and goes, “What is on your face?” Did I forget to wash off the zit cream from last night? Dried drool from my retainers? (Gosh, I’m such a babe, you guys.) Oh no, that’s right I stabbed myself in the eye with my mascara wand. “It’s mascara!” I reply. Crisis averted.

Or “Woah, Miss Stewart you look nice today! Like really nice!” As opposed to other days? Do I normally show up here looking like I’ve been run over? Please don’t answer that.

If I let my confidence, esteem, or any kind of affirmation be based on middle schoolers opinions, it will always be fleeting. Now don’t get me wrong, they are truth tellers so if they say I’m looking good or my outfit is on point, then I am looking good. I don’t question it.

Just out here slowly losing all my street cred.

However, I can’t depend on it or hope for it.

When in history has trying to gain the approval of middle schoolers worked out for us? Did it work for you or I in middle school? Probably not. Definitely not for me. And yet here we are, as grown adults trying to gain the approval of other adults. We try to gain more Instagram followers, likes, comments, retweets, and so on. What in the world? What are we even doing right now?

We simply got older, we didn’t actually grow up. We have barely moved on from middle school.

We have to realize that affirmation can never be found from another person, it can only be found in God. That’s it.

Your self-worth has never been truly measured by what your spouse thinks of you, your kids, your mailman, your barista, and certainly not a middle schooler! Those little boogers change their opinions daily.

For example:

“Wow, that’s lit.”

Two weeks later:

Anyone says “lit.”

“Did you really just say ‘lit?’. You’re corny.”

So let’s stop being middle schoolers about it and see what awesome folks we are. Let’s see the people we are as God sees us. The most authentic, most beautiful versions of ourselves.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:14, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”

When we’re trying to stay up with trends or hottest styles, we are worse than middle schoolers-we are like infants! (You know how those babies love their trends. #BabyFashionista). The point is, let’s have our affirmation come from Christ. Let’s have our beauty illuminate out of the place where we find that affirmation.

Because when we are not blown by the wind and the waves, not trying to keep up on social media, we become something else entirely.

Rooted. Established. Unwavering.

And yes, most importantly when we find our affirmation in Christ we will truly be…lit.